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APS Honors Stotts, Reinhard, Trettin with Luff Award

The American Philatelic Society honored Jay Stotts, Steve Reinhard and Ken Trettin with its 2024 Luff Award [left to right in the photo]. Since 1940, the Luff Award has been the most prestigious award that the American Philatelic Society can bestow upon living philatelists. The Luff Award was established in memory of John N. Luff, APS president from 1907 to 1909, who was considered the most prominent American philatelist of his era.

The APS Luff Awards are available annually for:

• Distinguished Philatelic Research
• Exceptional Contributions to Philately
• Outstanding Service to the American Philatelic Society

Recipients sign the Luff Award Scroll and are presented with engraved rings. The 2024 Luff Award winners will join a distinguished company of 157 prominent philatelists.

For Distinguished Philatelic Research, Kenneth H. Trettin:
Kenneth H. “Ken” Trettin is one of the hobby’s quiet giants.
Trettin is a 50-year-plus APS member and has been a member for more than 40 years in several other groups, such as the American Revenue Association, Collectors Club of New York, U.S. Stamp Society, U.S. Philatelic Classics Society. He has served on several boards of directors, exhibits revenues and was an early exponent of special studies and display class exhibits.

Trettin is an accredited chief philatelic exhibit judge, but has especially offered his expertise and knowledge in the area of literature, for which he is a philatelic literature judge.

“Since 1965, Ken has been one of the low-key giants in organized philately, and especially, philatelic literature,” wrote Hal Vogel, a 2022 Luff Award winner who nominated Trettin. “He is not only a prolific prepress advisor and varied author, but he has also been the longtime scholarly editor of several publications, including The American Revenuer and the American Philatelic Congress Book.

Trettin’s prepress work includes everything from offering directions, editing, and layout to writing articles and copyreading. (He’s written more than 150 articles, many without bylines.) He pioneered the use of desktop publishing for philatelic literature and became a mentor to many other editors who needed guidance in the area when it was new.

“One cannot be in his presence long without recognizing how his soft, professional personality has enabled him to be both a wise, accomplished author and a research-writing mentor to many,” wrote Vogel.

Among the books and journals he has had a hand in are The American Revenuer journal (1976-2011); The Congress Book (2006-2019); several publications for the American Revenue Association, including Catalog of US Revenue Stamped Documents – Civil War Era; Second Federal Issue 1801-1802; Third Federal Issue 1814-1817; Colonial New Sweden and its Postal Communications, 1638-1655 (2023, by John Barwis; and North Atlantic Non-Contract Steamship Mail (2022), by Barwis and Dick Winter.

Trettin has contributed significantly to several generations of APS literature evaluations and has served on numerous literature evaluation competitions and committees.

Trettin’s past awards include the Charles J Peterson Philatelic Literature Lifetime Achievement Award (2015); the Chicago Philatelic Society Newbury Award for significant contributions to Chicago area philately (2010); the USPCS Distinguished Philatelist Award (2001); the Diane D Boehret Award (1999) from the American Philatelic Congress; and induction into the Writer’s Unit #30 Hall of Fame (1999).

And, to remind us that philately has its place and can easily intersect with other pastimes, Cheryl Ganz offered this final note about Trettin: “Ken Trettin is well known as a revenue collector, great editor, and outstanding literature judge. He is smart and fun. But there is another side to Ken’s vast expertise. He brews his own beer and smokes his own sausages. Ken and his wife, Eileen, have hosted many beer tasting evening events at stamp shows. They often drive to stamp shows in their convertible, carrying their mascot Kermit along to be photographed at the sites on the back roads.”

For Exceptional Contributions to Philately: Jay Stotts
Jay Stotts, like many of us, has been a collector since childhood. His involvement in the hobby has escalated since his marriage, because his wife, Denise, was equally interested in the hobby. As a young married couple, they were both involved and encouraged each other’s interests. He joined the APS in 1978.

Stotts joined the Garfield-Perry Stamp Club of Cleveland after they changed their bylaws in the mid-1980s to allow women as members, and after getting involved, served the club in many capacities, including as a board member (1986-92) and as March Party chairman in 1992. In 1992, Jay and Denise were award the Garfield-Perry LaGanke Award for service to the society.

Stotts’ interest in the United States Fourth Bureau Issue led him to join the Bureau Issues Association (BIA). He contributed a 13-part series of articles for its journal, The Specialist, for which he was awarded the society’s 1989 Walter Hopkinson Award for Literature.

Stotts was appointed to the BIA Board in 1991, a position he has held continuously with the exception of his tenures as president of the society. He was appointed to the presidency of the BIA in 1992 and served in that capacity through 1997. After the society changed its name to the United States Stamp Society (USSS), he was appointed as the society’s president and served in that capacity from 2000 through 2002, when he was again appointed to the board, a position which he still holds. He planned and coordinated a series of 20 seminars on the history of U.S. 20th century philately for the PACIFIC ’97 international stamp show.

Stotts has been an avid exhibitor since 1980 and an accredited APS judge since 1989. He served on the national Committee on Accreditation of National Exhibitions and Judges (CANEJ) of the APS for eight years (1990-98) and he was a contributor to the seventh edition of the Manual for Philatelic Judging and Exhibiting. His Fourth Bureau Issue material has earned five national grand awards and the 1995 BIA Walter Hopkinson Award for Exhibiting. He was recognized for excellence in philatelic judging in 2019 when he was awarded the American Association of Philatelic Exhibitors’ Bernard Hennig Award.

After their relocation to Houston, the Stotts became active in both the Houston Philatelic Society and the Greater Houston Stamp Show Committee. Jay has served as the society’s secretary and as the newsletter editor for more than 25 years. He was awarded the Distinguished Philatelic Texan Award of the Texas Philatelic Association in 1999 for his contributions to philately and he was awarded the Nicholas G. Carter Volunteer Recognition Award by the APS in 2009.

With the approach of the 100th anniversary of the issue of the Fourth Bureau Issue in 2022, he and the Fourth Bureau Issues Committee of the USSS began work on a published legacy resource for the issue. Jay served as editor and the society published the 500-page book, The United States Fourth Bureau Issue 1922-1938, which earned grand awards for the literature competitions at both Chicagopex 2022 and the Great American Stamp Show 2023. The book sold out in 15 months.

In addition to the positions he fills with the USSS and the Houston club, he currently serves as the American Association of Philatelic Exhibitors’ director of its Exhibit Critique Service. Jay and Denise continue to support each other’s efforts in philately and understand that this is a hobby where the more you put into it, the more enjoyment and enduring friendships you reap from it.

For Outstanding Service To The APS: Stephen Reinhard
Four years ago, Newsday, the Long Island, NY, newspaper, presented an article about philately that started, “What keeps somebody glued to a hobby for 70 years?”

Stephen Reinhard, who then at 78 had just hit his 70-year mark in the hobby, answered easily, in both print and an accompanying video published by the prime newspaper where he lives.

“I’ve learned so much about history and geography, from where countries are located to what their capitals are,” said Reinhard in print and in an accompanying video. “I don’t have a talent for those subjects. I spend hours a day in my stamp room at home. I got interested when I was 8 years old, and it’s never stopped.”

Like many of our honorees, Reinhard’s contributions to the hobby are too many to include here, but we’ll give you a taste.

In general, as summarized by a 2017 article in Linn’s Stamp News, “Reinhard is a longtime researcher and writer, an award-winning international exhibitor, and a philatelic judge. He has fulfilled numerous leadership roles in the stamp hobby while sharing his enthusiasm for his aerophilately specialty and promoting philatelic exhibiting as a foundation of the stamp hobby.”

Reinhard has more than a dozen years of service on the APS board of directors, including serving as president from 2013 to 2016.
Reinhard became an accredited national philatelic judge in 1989 and started judging internationally in the early 2000s. He’s judged at about 120 national and international exhibitions. He’s also served on national and international accreditation committees.

As with all other areas of his involvement, Reinhard has completed several roles for other organizations, particularly the Fédération Internationale de Philatélie (FIP), Collectors Club of New York and the American Air Mail Society.

For the FIP, Reinhard has served several times as U.S. commissioner and a judge to international shows. He has served as several positions for both the Collectors Club of New York (president, 2002-2004) and the Philatelic Foundation. He has served in several roles for the Air Mail Society (director for 35 years, president 1988-89). In other areas he served on the National Postal Museum’s Council of Philatelists (2013-2017) and was the creator and show chair of Aerophilately 2022.

Reinhard’s award-winning exhibits include “United States Pioneer Airmail, 1910-1916,” “United Kingdom Coronation Aerial Post, 1911” and “Swiss Pioneer Airmail, 1913.”

Reinhard served as managing editor for three volumes of The American Air Mail Catalogue (sixth edition) and written such articles for The Airpost Journal and other publications as “Chautauqua Lake Airmail – 1913-14,” “Miscalculated-Printed Matter to Mexico” and “Mexico Airmail to the U.S. was not Always the Fastest Way.”

Reinhard has garnered many of the hobby’s most prestigious honors, which include election to the Aerophilatelic Hall of Fame (2000); becoming a Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society London (2001); FIP medal for service (2012); honorary life membership to the American Air Mail Society (2015, one of only seven in the society’s 100-year history); and the Collectors Club of New York’s Lichtenstein Medal (2017).

“Steve has given his time and talents to philately his entire adult life,” said the nominating petition from Cheryl Ganz. “I have worked with Steve on boards and committees for 40 years …He puts the good of the hobby first, and is a respected voice. Steve devotes his time and energy to philately out of his passion for this great hobby. He is a gentleman. He is very deserving of APS’s highest honor, having served in many roles for decades.”